AN: Once upon a time, I was way into the Danny Phantom fandom. And then I fell out of it. I don't remember why. Probably something about the 'True Phan' war and all of the pairing spazzing. And then I saw Reign Storm and The Ultimate Enemy again, and lo and behold, I fell right back into the fandom, though not nearly to the same extent, and I started to rewrite two very old stories because the old versions scare me.

So, yeah. I'm rewriting Return of Darkness (or Rod, as I affectionately call it). So, Shade is back and hopefully better than ever. And if things are a bit different than you remember, it's because I've taken the liberty of redesigning them a bit. But no, I probably won't be rewriting The Darkness Within, simply because I don't like that one as much.

Sadly, Aci doesn't really roleplay with me anymore and as it is, Ana apparently found a full time boyfriend and so doesn't need Shade. That being the case, Ana has been replaced with my own character. And Tawn was replaced with a dragon that has a better name.

Also, I removed Vlad and other elements that really didn't fit.

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or the characters. I do own Shade, Marie, and Jayja.

Catapult dreams had nothing on Shade. As his eyes snapped open, he sat up so fast he ended up launching himself forward onto his knees. He looked around rapidly before he realized where he was, and the events of the previous day crashed into place in his mind.

"Oh...Right. Well...this is different." He looked down at himself, noting that he looked for the most part the same; the same red haz-mat suit, the same chain around his waist, the same gloves and boots, and the same waist length black cape.

He hauled himself to his feet, looking around. "Hmm. Bleak." Though, really, he hadn't been expecting much more from the Ghost Zone. "I suppose I should figure out where I am. Joyous. Everything here looks the same." Finished talking to himself, he started trekking across the chunk of land he was on.

When he came to the edge of the chunk, he brought a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose, growling out, "Just fucking lovely." He stared irritably at another island floating a few yards away. With a sigh, he jogged back a short distance, dropped into a runner's stance, and then sprinted for the edge and leapt.

Shade just barely managed to catch the edge of the second island and, grunting and swearing profusely, he heaved himself up and looked around again. This island looked more like some sort of Jungle. "Probably Skulker's," he muttered before hiking into the woods.

"I guess I'll have to get used to this."

And so, days passing, Shade forced himself to get used to the solitary confinement brought on by his lack of flight. He couldn't reach the other islands and no one seemed to have a lair in this section of the Ghost Zone.

'Ronnie's coming. Are you sure I should be out in broad daylight?'

'You're afraid of a human?'

'...Only her.'

'You'll be fine, Phantom.'

In the two short weeks since Shade had been killed, Ronnie had completely changed her hair and built up an almost funnily powerful hatred for Phantom, blaming him for Shade's death.

Slowly, Ronnie sauntered closer to Danny's porch, her hair newly styled into a black-dyed pixie cut with blond tips.

"Hey Danny." She smiled warmly as she paused at the bottom of the porch. "Phantom," she added, eyeing him coldly.

"Hey, Ronnie. You need anything?" Danny asked, ignoring Phantom slink a step closer behind him.

"Going to the mall. Wanna come?"

"Sure."

Phantom stayed on the porch while Danny hopped down the stairs. "I think I'll stay here where the air is a bit less frigid. Have fun."

Danny shrugged and followed Ronnie down the side walk, waving over his shoulder.

Shade froze in mid-step, his hand still poised to pull a branch aside. He heard something from above him. Eyes narrowing, he reached up and grabbed a tree branch, pulling himself up onto it, and then onto another until he was high enough up to see what was happening over the trees.

...A dragon?

Now, Shade knew that there were dragons in the Ghost Zone, he just didn't expect to see one of them here.

The massive brown creature didn't seem to have noticed Shade yet, but that was proved otherwise when it suddenly down, directly at the ghost balanced in the tree. The dragon circled overhead a few times before gliding down to land on the island. It looked around before looking at Shade again and slowly walking forward, the trees seeming to part before it.

"Whoa! Get that thing out of my face!" Shade shouted when he suddenly found the dragon's snout in his face, sniffing him.

"Brave talk for one that is land bound." Nonetheless, the dragon pulled his head away, looking at Shade carefully. "Who are you? I've flown over this island dozens of times and never seen you before."

"A newly dead. Been here for...a few days, I think. Hard to tell out here." He dropped into an awkward, mock bow, still holding onto the tree. "Name's Shade."

"I am Jayja."

"Well, Jayja, perhaps you could be of some assistance. I seem to be trapped on this island, and I'm going out of my mind."

The dragon thought for a moment before nodding. "I suppose." He turned sideways, crouching slightly so Shade could get onto his back.

That was when Shade noticed the golden amulet wrapped around the base of Jayja's neck and the black chain halter that looked normal enough...if one ignored that it was steadily pulsing black light.

Jayja took off rather suddenly and Shade yelped, grabbing the dragon's neck for balance. "Warning next time!"

"My apologies."

"So...where are we going?" Shade asked after a short while, looking down at the Ghost Zone as they passed above it.

"Back to my mistress. She does not like me being absent for long."

"Who's your mistress, then?"

"You'll see."

A few more moments passed in silence before Shade felt the need to break it again.

"What's up with the halter?"

"It keeps me in my dragon form. My mistress does not think I'd make a good pet if I could shift into a human."

"...She keeps you as a pet?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Shade heard the massive beast sigh loudly, followed by, "You ask far too many questions."

"So?"

"That is enough."

Noting the snarl creeping into Jayja's voice, Shade deemed it wise to keep silent and just hang on for the ride.

Shade looked down as another island came into view, this one considerably larger than the ones around it, with something almost akin to a mansion on it. Well, a dilapidated, outdated, collapsing mansion. Jayja began descending, before he roughly landed on the ground, jostling Shade to the point that he was thrown forward against the dragon's neck.

"Welcome to my mistress's home."

Shade stared at the falling apart mansion while he dropped off of Jayja's back to the ground. "It looks like it's from the Dark Ages."

"It is, genius."

Shade whirled around to see a girl maybe a year or two older than him land on the island, folding a pair of black feathered wings against her back.

She had shoulder length brown hair randomly streaked with white, and bright green eyes. She wore a lime green halter top with a dark denim jacket over it, and a lime green mini-skirt with a pair of lime green high heels.

"Who is this, Jayja?"

Jayja stepped closer to her, lowering his head to her height. "This is Shade. He has been dead for only a few days, and apparently he can't fly. I offered to bring him here."

She scoffed. "A ghost that can't fly?"

Shade bristled, eyes narrowing. "It's a very long story. You got a name, or should I just call you Annoying Bitch?"

"You may call me Mistress." She tensed, taking a step forward, her wings flaring out.

"Right. Annoying Bitch it is." Shade smirked, crossing his arms.

"My name is Marie. Happy?" She relented, wanting at least some form of respect.

"Oh, quite. It's a pleasure to meet you, Marie."

She finally took a good look at him. "What are you wearing? You look ridiculous."

"Don't ask me. I was wearing this when I showed up in the mortal world."

"'Showed up?'" Marie quirked an eyebrow, waiting for an explanation.

"Yeah. Showed up. I'm not normal; I'm an essence of darkness, formed by two people who refused to show said darkness."

A grin slowly crossed Marie's face. "How very interesting. I think we may get along just fine." She gestured to the mansion. "Step inside. I think I might have something you could wear."

AN: And thus we end the new prologue. Not the greatest, but it's better than the last one. As one could guess, the entire original RoD is going bye-bye, since hardly any of the elements are the same. It needs a complete overhaul, and it's going to get one.